Feedback on RTW itinerary

Thorn Tree forumInterest forumsGap Year & Round the World Travel
Enter custom title (optional)
This topic is locked
Last reply was
900
…
Send as an e-mail
Send as an e-mail
tonyalasagna
tonyalasagna

Hi TT'ers,

We're planning our year-long RTW starting in October 2013, and have a rough itinerary mapped out. I've been reading all the helpful comments and suggestions. Would love your thoughts on .

About us:
40-ish and 50-ish married couple
Prefer to travel slowly and stay in one place a little longer (e.g. pick a few regions in a country and stay longer, rather than trying to see everything)
Accommodation in apartments for longer stays and hostels with private rooms (we're not really interested in dorm rooms). I love to cook so would like to shop at markets and cook when possible, but otherwise will stick to budget food, with the occasional nice dinner out.
Prefer to overland rather than fly everywhere
We are looking for nice sunny weather since we live in the rainforest, so no Scotland in February!
I'd like to keep the budget (including flights, though SA flights are covered using FF points) to $40,000 CDN and we do have some free accommodation along the way with friends

Mid-October: Leave on trip. 3 to 3 1/2 months in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina
Fly to Quito, 1 month in Ecuador/Galapagos including 1 -2 weeks in Quito to sort out trip to Galapagos, looking for a last minute deal for a liveaboard.
One month in Peru, including Inca Trail hike, amazon trip to Iquitos
1-2 weeks in Bolivia (overland), on our way to Argentina
3-4 weeks in Argentina (including a week in Salta staying with family.)
End of January: Fly back to US via LAX (stay with family for a few days before next phase)
Option: Either fly to a hub city in SEA direct from LAX, OR go to Cook Islands & NZ for 3 weeks, then fly to SEA (this has budget implications)

February to May, 3-4 months in SEA: Thailand, Singapore, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia. In no particular order.
May: Fly to Cairo or Istanbul. 2 1/2 months for Egypt & Turkey, travel overland through Albania, Montenegro, Croatia.
July: Fly from Croatia to Berlin. A month in northern Germany (we have accommodation with friends so no $ there.)
August - September: Fly Berlin to Delhi. 6 weeks in Northern India and Nepal.
October : head back to SEA, this time a month in Indonesia.
End of October -- Home to Vancouver.

Our biggest expenditures are the Galapagos, Inca Trail hike, and a bit of diving for me. Other than those and some long distance flights, we hope to stick to our $100CDN a day for both of us. Sometimes it will be more, sometimes less, so it's an average only.

How does this sound? Too much? Too little?

View last reply
Report
1
james2020
james2020

Overall your budget looks a little low.

A Galapagos liveabord is around $4000+ per person. May be worth looking at flying to the islands and basing yourself there rather than on a boat.

It doesn't really make sense to travel back to Asia. You are better off doing it all in one go. I know it might not ideal weather in terms of the weather, but your budget doesn't allow for those extra flights.

Copy and paste the url below to share the link.
Permalink to this post
Report
2
joblogs
joblogs

Your itinerary looks amazing. I did something similar in 2010/11 going from UK to continental Europe, to South (then Central) America, through SEA, India, Middle East and home.

The one things I'd say is that from a quick count it looks like you're hitting around 19 countries in 12 months, which is going to equate to a lot of travel...which doesn't seem to be what you want?

South America was more vast than I could have imagined and I ended up spending 2 weeks alternating nigh buses and hostels to get from Quito to Peru for my Inca Trail in time. I'd sleep through 13 hours on the bus and barely feel like I'd moved on the map.

If you're committed to your itinerary, I'd say either expect to add in some flights, though this will seriously impact your budget in SA where flights are prohibitive - much cheaper with Air Asia in SEA. Otherwise, I'd recommend skipping a few countries.

Feel free to msg me if you need any more tip.

Copy and paste the url below to share the link.
Permalink to this post
Report
3
tonyalasagna
tonyalasagna

Thanks so much!

joblogs -- great advice. I'll PM you for more detail about the SA component. I had a sneaky suspicion we might have under projected time.

James -- for the Galapagos our aim was to take whatever last minute was available if we could find something in the $2500 pp range. If we can't we may forgot it. Also, it's often cheaper to fly from Asia to the west coast of Canada than it is to fly from Europe, since Vancouver is a hub and its more direct and you don't have to fly across an entire continent. Plus, I expect that roughly half our long distance flights will be on star alliance points.

Copy and paste the url below to share the link.
Permalink to this post
Report
4
devino
devino

If you cannot find a liveaboard that suits your budget, I'd still consider going to the Galapagos and do a 'normal' cruise instead. the amount of marine life you see even when snorkelling is absolutely amazing, and then there's the land visits too which are fantastic. If you have the money, do not skip the Galapagos.

Keep in mind you have to book the Classic Inca Trail months in advance, due to the maximum no of 500 people allowed on it each day. Having said that, there are plenty of alternative hikes to MP (Salkantay, Jungle, Lares) that are less crowded, cheaper, and don't need to be booked in advance.

Copy and paste the url below to share the link.
Permalink to this post
Report
5
joblogs
joblogs

Tony, do feel free to message me. If you can't get in touch via here, there is a contact form on my blog: http://indianajo.com/contact

Happy to share tips.

Copy and paste the url below to share the link.
Permalink to this post
Report

This topic has been locked by a moderator.

Pro tip
Lonely Planet
trusted partner